


Winter Embrace

by unwillingadventurer



Category: Raffles - E. W. Hornung
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-25 02:27:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17716316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwillingadventurer/pseuds/unwillingadventurer
Summary: Raffles and Bunny snuggle up together on Valentine's Day.





	Winter Embrace

The winter season was still upon us though the snow that settled that week was starting to disappear under the sunshine that had greeted us that February day. Ham Common had looked beautiful under a blanket of white and we felt contended, cocooned in our cottage, not venturing out for anyone or anything. The last remnants of the snow were apparent from our view from the window but as the evening drew upon us, we closed the curtains and when our landlady had retired, relaxed together on the settee by the flames of a roaring fire.

With my head resting upon my A.J’s chest, I could feel his heart beating. As I ran my fingers over the skin where underneath his heart dwelled- though he liked to suggest he had none- the beat quickened. 

“You’re alive!” I said, laughing into his chest.

“Bunny, that is so awfully ticklish,” he replied, pushing me gently away.

I sat up and looked upon him- taking a moment to appreciate the playful mischief in his eyes and that slyness in his smile. He ran his hand through his hair and it struck me how the silver of it felt in keeping with the wintery theme of the landscape outside. 

“And you told me you weren’t ticklish!” I said.

It was true. I vividly remembered our conversation one ghastly day in autumn where the rain fell relentlessly for weeks without restraint. We talked of our characters and he was outrightly adamant that there were certain things he did not possess; a loving heart, a conscience, and to feel the effects of being tickled. But I had discovered that he had at least two of these and I enjoyed them both immensely. 

“Now I’m cold,” he said with a whisper, so I gladly resumed my position, laying my head upon his chest where I felt his hand move across the strands of my hair, his fingers running through it. “That’s better,” he murmured.

“You know what today is, don’t you?” I said.

“Tuesday.”

“Yes, but what date?”

“Uh…the fourteenth I think.” He looked upon me, giving nothing away in his expression.

“You mean you’ve bally well forgotten?” I said, feeling my voice rise in irritation.

“Whatever are you driving at my dearest Bunny?”

“It’s February the 14th, A.J, what does that mean to you?”

There was a sniff. “Oh, I see, you mean Valentine’s Day? Yes, I’m with you now.”

I sat up, folded my arms and sighed. “Oh, you’re with me, are you? In that case, here,” I said, reaching over to the table and taking an envelope. “You may as well have this.”

He smirked and snatched it playfully from my hands. “For me? You shouldn’t have.”

There were already several cards on the table for Raffles, or Ralph as people nearby knew him. One card was from our landlady who doted on him most fervently and another was from a neighbour, a pretty young lady who was quite besotted with the distinguished silver haired older gentleman she spied every day cycling past her with his friend beside him on his own bicycle. I had received my own card from the plump sister, a pleasant girl who liked to commandeer us from our rides and force-feed us fruit pies. It explained the weight both Raffles and I had piled on over the winter but in truth I did not mind as a cuddly A.J was not displeasing. 

I ignored the other cards and instead concentrated on the one he held in his hands- the one from the man who truly loved and knew him. He studied it and smiled.

“Thank you, Bunny.”

I paused. I waited. Had he forgotten then? How could he when his post that morning brought so many declarations of admiration to his door? How could he have not rushed out that morning to purchase a card for me?

But then he said: “I suppose you’d like your card.”

“You got me one?”

I shuffled closer to him.

“It’s in the bureau, fetch it, would you?”

I obediently rose to my feet and made my way to the mahogany bureau and opened the drawer in excitement. True enough, there lay a large envelope with the letter ‘B’ written simply on the front in ink. I tore it open and admired the card inside of elegant design. I looked inside for the words which read: ‘To Bun, with love eternally. Affectionately yours, AJR.”

I pressed the card to my heart and sighed a giddy sigh. By the time I crossed back to the settee and into the warmth of A.J’s embrace, his eyes were shut. I shoved him.

“Are you asleep?”

“No, no, just resting my eyes.”

“I love the card.”

“Thought I’d forgotten it didn’t you? By George how you worry!”

“You do seem to forget the romantic things when crime is firmly in your mind.”

“I stole your heart, does that not count for anything?”

He always had an answer whether it was one I wanted to hear or not. 

“I love you, A.J,” I said as I snuggled up tightly to him and ran my hand under his shirt to find his heart again. It was still beating. He was still marvellously alive in there.

There was a brief murmur from his lips but no response. 

“Did you hear what I said? I love you most ardently.”

He looked down at me. “I should jolly well hope you do, Bunny.”

“You’re impossible! Don’t you have anything you wish to say in return?”

I could see his lips curl ever so slightly and he was thinking. I so wished I could reach inside his mind and pull out what he was feeling and read it like pages from a book. If only I could peel away the layers.

“A chap can feel something and he can show it without uttering a word. Can’t you see it in my eyes, Bunny?”

“I don’t want to just see it in your eyes, I want to hear it from those lovely lips.”

He laughed and gently closed his eyes again. “Let’s rest a while.”

Trying to change the subject again! I admitted defeat and pressed him no further, using his chest as a pillow, I slowly closed my eyes. It was bliss but after a few moments of silence, he said: “Bunny, are you awake?”

I was indeed awake but I refused to answer, keeping my eyelids tightly closed and letting him believe I was asleep.

“I love you too, you ridiculous Rabbit.” He whispered to me and his fingers ran over my hair. “I love your sunshine locks and that innocent face, those flushed cheeks and those lips that make me think of Cupid’s bow. You have struck me, Bunny, an arrow straight to the heart where it shall stay.”

I sat bolt upright like Frankenstein’s monster being awakened, rising like a re-animated corpse from the depths of a murky grave. Raffles was startled. 

“Oh A.J!” I exclaimed. “I knew you could tell me how you feel.”

He clutched his chest and caught his breath. “I nearly died of fright. What on Earth did you want to go and do that to a chap for?”

I flung my arms around his neck. “Oh A.J!”

“You little devil! You were never asleep.”

“No.”

He placed his arms around my waist and then without warning his fingers tickled me under my ribs. I struggled in his grasp to escape his tickle assault. I gasped. “I surrender!”

He stopped immediately and looked into my eyes before his lips found mine and there they stayed for quite some while.


End file.
